ICE Detains Milwaukee Islamic Society President Salah Sarsour at Gunpoint

More than ten ICE agents surrounded the vehicle of Salah Salem Sarsour on the morning of March 30, 2026, as the 53-year-old community leader left his home in Franklin, Wisconsin. According to community supporter Othman Atta, an unmarked car came at Sarsour on the wrong side of the street near a south-side Milwaukee warehouse he owned, and a person in civilian clothes pointed a gun at him before agents took him into custody. The Islamic Society of Milwaukee, which Sarsour has volunteered to lead for five years, called it an "abduction."

The government's public justification arrived three days later. DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis declared Sarsour "a terrorist convicted for throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of Israeli armed forces," citing a conviction by Israeli authorities from more than 30 years ago. DHS further accused Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident who arrived in 1993 and obtained his green card in 1998, of lying on immigration forms about that decades-old conviction and of being "suspected of funding terror organizations." DHS added that "this criminal and terrorist will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings."

Sarsour's attorneys at the Muslim Legal Fund of America filed a writ of habeas corpus and a Temporary Restraining Order request in federal court, arguing that the immigration application DHS now cites as fraudulent was reviewed and approved by the U.S. government nearly 33 years ago. A hearing is scheduled in Chicago Immigration Court. ISM board member and immigration attorney Munjed Ahmad, who spoke with Sarsour for approximately 30 minutes after his detention at the Clay Detention Center in Brazil, Indiana, reported that Sarsour was "very motivated to vindicate himself" and said he was "shocked" at the volume of community support.

The MLFA and ten other leading U.S. Muslim associations issued a joint letter calling the detention part of a "troubling trend," accusing the Trump administration of "weaponizing" the justice system to suppress pro-Palestinian speech. Attorneys stated they are "alarmed by this administration's renewed attempt to circumvent the Constitution by leveraging the immigration system" against constitutionally protected political expression.

Critics have tied the arrest directly to Trump's Executive Order 14188, which directed every federal agency to identify available civil and criminal authorities to combat antisemitism. The administration has separately moved against international students who joined pro-Palestinian protests and opened civil rights investigations into dozens of universities. DHS noted in its own statement that ICE arrested 43,305 people it classified as "potential national security risks" during Trump's first year in office, a framing civil liberties advocates say conflates enforcement statistics with political targeting.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers called for Sarsour's immediate release, saying "targeting people because of their beliefs or background is wrong." U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore called the detention "completely unacceptable" and cited "serious concerns about the continued targeting of lawful residents." Milwaukee Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa and Alderman Alex Bower described the situation as a "nightmare" and an "illegal detention of a longtime permanent U.S. resident." State Rep. Ryan Clancy called it an attack on free speech, while multiple Milwaukee County supervisors, CAIR, the Mandela Barnes gubernatorial campaign, and the Milwaukee Area Labor Council Immigrant Rights Committee all issued statements of support.

The Islamic Society of Milwaukee, founded in 1976, is the largest Islamic organization in Wisconsin, serving an estimated 25,000 Muslims across southeastern Wisconsin through three mosques and Salam School, a K-12 college preparatory institution with roughly 740 students and 85 staff members established in 1992. The question now before a Chicago federal court is whether a three-decade-old foreign conviction, already disclosed and cleared during the Clinton-era green card process, can serve as the legal foundation for removing a man who has spent more than half his life as a lawful American resident.